Time to Care for America. New Approaches to Our Senior Surplus

My niece is a part of "Teach for America." It's a national teacher corps of recent college graduates who commit two years to teach in under-resourced urban and rural schools.  It's a fantastic program.  She is receiving wonderful training, and scholarship funds for graduate school.  I just finished listening to a podcast (Stanford's ecorner) by Jennifer Pahlka about "Code for America."  It's a neat program to encourage coders to work for little money and code for government.

Listen,  I love teaching and I love tech.  We need teachers and we need for our civic institutions to have better software.  But, what we really need is "Care for America."

Care for America is a program that I've just made up.  Being something that I just made up, the details need to be fleshed out.  We face a care crunch.  Between 2000 and 2030, the number of Americans greater than 65 will double.  The number greater than 80 will triple.  Mathematically there will be an increase in potential care givers of only 25%.  We can't simply put these individuals in nursing homes.   Just imagine what will happen to our state coffers when we have the recession of 2025, but Medicaid is paying for three times the number of nursing home beds.  It will be disastrous.

I am the founder of a company who's entire business model is based on these mathematical facts.  Room2Care.com is the innovative leader in Shared Senior Living.  By leveraging the sharing economy we are pairing up individuals with extra space and time with seniors who need some care. But, even an innovative, affordable senior care, like Room2Care will not be enough.

It is time to take our young men and women and create the Care Corps of "Care for America."  We will take ambitious high school graduates and provide basic training to allow them to check on some of Medicare and Medicaid's high risk patients.  They can be the boots on the ground that make sure that a heart failure patient checks his weight and that a diabetic checks their sugars.

We will soon have bluetooth enabled mobile devices that can provide almost all of the information of a modern ICU.  Now, there will clearly be roles that will require fully credentialed visiting nurses, but to collect the relevant data to allow for remote medical management will not require the training of a Registered Nurse.  Sure, they can supervise Battalions for the Care Corps, but it should be young men and women who will be the boots on the ground in this battle.

They will gain scholarship money and experience.  We will gain a more connected youth.  When they choose medical professions they will have a much deeper understanding of the impact involved.

We face a crises.  The ways that worked in the days of dial phones and AM radio will not be sufficient.  I truly hope that our elected officials will show us that the "Care for America."

What About Special Training? A Marketplace View of Shared Senior Living

If you've been reading any of my writings you've learned about Room2Care.com.
 Room2Care.com is a startup that is taking a new look at the senior care space.  We understand that many seniors need additional support and cannot continue to live alone in their homes.  Sure, there's the traditional method.  Let's burn off all of Dad's assets and then send him to a medicaid financed nursing home where he will be "cared" by someone.

Look, nursing homes are important and given the costs, we should be grateful that there is a program to help with them.  However, I feel the same away about financed funerals. Great to have, just let's wait a little bit for that.

We are creating a new approach; Shared Senior Living.  What's that?  Think Uber or Airbnb for long term care.  We connect seniors with individuals who have extra space in their homes and the time to provide basic care.  We are also connecting seniors together to be roommates and will be starting Care-Aids that will seek to place young men and women into seniors homes in exchange for free or markedly reduced rent in exchange for basic care.

Now, everybody in this in background checked.  But, I often am asked about specialized training.  Most seniors are cared for by their husbands, wives, sons and daughters. Most care isn't about training.  It's about caring.  It's about checking in on someone and making sure that they've taken their medicine, eaten their dinners, bathed, etc.  None of those tasks require nursing school.  Look, there are people with diabetic ulcers who will need specialized care (as a note, our Care-Commander makes ordering such care easy) We provide on-line information for support.  They are the interpersonal equivalents of "use two people to carry this television" that you see on the giant boxes at Costco.

But, we are actively recruiting nurses (active and retired) and other professional caregivers as host.  I do not think that "training" is necessary, but it is desirable.  We will encourage these hosts to state "Retired Nurse with sunny bedroom."  The free market will determine if there is value to being a nurse in these settings.

Another question I get is "who are these people?"  My response is when you go to a facility, or call an agency, who are those people.  They come, work their shift and leave.  Each Room2Care host is a proprietor who will develop their own online reputation.  Who are you paying more for? A 5 star host or a 2 star host.  I hope you will stick around to see the answer. Transparency and the free market will provide the answer and help solve the expensive care burden that we face as a nation.

Give a caregiver a break. Put mom in our home.

Respite Care

Years ago, when I was a medical resident and then, later, as faculty, I would face an uncomfortable situation.  The VA hospital had a small emergency room.  Not infrequently, a family would bring the elderly veteran to the ER with a nonspecific complaint.  We would do some tests and, when we went to report our findings, the family was nowhere to be found.  This happened commonly enough that we had a name for it.  We called it a "Pop-drop."

I was very critical of these families.  How could they take a loved one and just leave him for a few days or weeks.  It was cruel.  It was inappropriate.  It was...human.

As they years have gone by, I've discovered that watching over a family member is difficult and, just everybody else, caregivers need a break.

Unfortunately, there aren't many things that people can do.  You can hire an agency care giver for about $20 an hour.  So, that's about $500 a day.  A little pricy for most.  You can get another family member to take your mom or dad.  And, finally, the "Pop-drop;" the senior equivalent of leaving a baby in a basket with a note.  Sadly, these options are quite limited.  If you have another family member who can take over, that's ideal, but given how few people have one dedicated caregiver, the number that have multiple is quite small.

Fortunately, a new option now exists.  Room2Care.com is the leader in Shared Senior Living.  Before going away, take a look at the homes in your area with a host who can care for your loved one.  Let mom and/or dad stay with them for the weekend.  Since these are people living in their homes, they are already there.  You do not need to pay them the exorbitant fees associated with care aids.  These people have been background checked and cleared.  Many have reviews written by or for others who received care.  With all new services, it's a little scary.  Remember how scared you were the first time that you left you child with the babysitter?  Check it out.  When you need a break, dropping mom off at a Room2Care.com community home surely beats leaving her in an emergency room.

Take a look at how Room2care.com views respite care.